bodywork advice please

[virg]

Originally Posted by woodman

It's a 121 saloon. Keep the advice coming...!

now's the time, woody. this is the moment. Write down the date so you won't forget. That rust doesn't look impossible now but it has a running start and rust waits for no one.

[swedishandgerman]

Similar to derekuk's link - here's what I had done to my arches:

http://www.phoenix-coachworks.co.uk/gallery.php

(Have a look under "Gallery")

Mine were in a much worse state than yours though! Trouble was, when the outer arch was cut out it showed how awful the inner arch was. Also, the outer arches had been replaced in the past with larger repair panels, so they had to fabricate something to fit. £££££'s! Interestingly, the outer arch panle fitted perfectly as an inner arch repair panel.

[amazondean]

The length along from where the wheel arch meets the boot floor to the back light area from inside the car looks very weak. There looks like a fair amount of filler on the outer lower wheel arch. If this is both sides of the car you will be looking at a fair sum to put right. My advice is.
"There are many amazons that are still in surprisingly good original condition, and a few have past my hands for a couple of hundred quid that only need minor work. Nothing like your pictures show, but it depends on the rest of the cars condition. If there appears to be more areas the same, ie bottom of the doors from underneath, wing tops and even inner front wings then i would look for a better restoration job and move this one on. There realy is good stuff out there if you are prepared to put the time in and look, but if the rest of the car is pretty good, although a magnet would probably show a few more areas then have it done right. As said the panels are there but repairing round the inner wheel arch area is not easy."

[woodman]

I understand your thinking Amazondean but I'm confident of the rest of the car. It's been looked at by two experienced mechanics who agree (and were both quite surprised) by how solid it is. The underneath is in incredibly good nick, the sills are totally solid, the front end is great. On the downside:
I'm in no doubt there's plenty of filler;
The driver's door has been bodged aplenty and could do with replacing;
There's this wheelarch problem at the back;
A lot of the paintwork has been done in bits, and close scrutiny shows it hasn't been painted very well.

My general conclusion is that the last owner did nothing but store it in his garage, the one before that was a bodger who liked filler and iffy paintjobs, but otherwise looked after it fairly well, and before that it was well cared-for.

I want a car that will live outdoors, do 5000 miles a year, look great and be a lot of fun, ideally for about 10 years. I've had it 4 months, and I'm gradually putting things right and getting it to a state where it can survive next winter without too much worry. I'm confident this is a car that can be an ongoing, running restoration (it's my fourth classic so I'm not overly naive) and I know it's going to cost money, but equally I'm not aiming for a showpiece.

[tom-madbiker]

im currently chopping out rust round the front of my amazon estate suprising how good it it but it does take a long time to do a proper job my advice is get yourself a mig welder and do it yourself in your own time thats how i started and now i do repairs for others too on another note my new fiberglass wings and front panel arrived today woo hoo onward and backward